Mekkah

Mecca (/ˈmɛkə/; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah,[a] commonly shortened to Makkah[b]) is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia and the holiest city in Islam.[3] It is 70 km (43 mi) inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley 277 m (909 ft) above sea level. Its last recorded population was 2,385,509 in 2022. Its metropolitan population in 2022 is 2.4 million, making it the third-most populated city in Saudi Arabia after Riyadh and Jeddah. Around 44.5% of the population are Saudi citizens and around 55.5% are foreigners from other muslim countries.[4] Pilgrims more than triple the population number every year during the Ḥajj pilgrimage, observed in the twelfth Hijri month of Dhūl-Ḥijjah.[citation needed] With over 10.8 million international visitors in 2023, Mecca was one 10 most visited cities in the world.